Former Sumo Wrestler to run LA Marathon Tomorrow

I am not sure what it is about the LA Marathon but last week I posted about the runner who went on an all McDonald’s diet while he trained for the LA Marathon. This morning as I was surfing the internet I found out a former U.S. sumo wrestling champ plans to run the LA Marathon tomorrow – you can read about it here.

In case you are wondering why Kelly Gneitling wants to complete the LA Marathon it is because he wants to set a Guinness World Record. Apparently he finished the marathon in 12 hours in 2008 but since it was not documented it did not count for a record.

If succesful Gneitling expects to finish the marathon in approximately 11 hours.

Other than the fact that he is a former sumo wrestler, the thing that really caught my eye here is the mileage he has completed in training. He has been training by running 6 days per week with long runs of 6 miles (approx. 10 km) on Saturdays. This means that he is probably running about 50 km per week. That does not represent a lot of mileage when you are training for a marathon that is 26 miles (42 km).

My real issue with this story and the McDonald’s diet story are that stories like these might lead to more people attempting to run marathons without the proper training due to the attention these stories receive. This could result in more injuries during marathons.

What do you think? Do stories like these encourage people to register for marathons without proper training?

Don’t forget to enter my book giveaway if you are interested in reading Run to Overcome by Meb Keflezighi or Run: 26.2 Stories about Blisters and Bliss by Dean Karnazes